Council Tax issue

dogs1234

Hi All,

I'd like some advice please regarding a council tax issue which i have. At the start of 2009 i moved into a rented house with a 'friend' in march 2009 and as he had a previous CCJ on a loan when he was young the tenancy agreement was done in my name.

We agreed that the rent would come directly through me and he would pay the bills & the difference he would give me back. However it turns out the council have received no payments from my 'friend' and they have issued baillifs to my address to settle the debt.

I had given my friend half of the money to pay the tax (on a monthly basis up-to-date) however it seems he has just pocketed the money and left the tax outstanding in my name.

Do i have a leg to stand on?? is there anyway i can i get my money back from my so called 'friend'? Is there any way i can put the debt into his name also and not make only me liable?

Someone has told me i can pay the entire debt with a credit card and then indemnify the debt to him - can i do this??

Please - any suggestions how i can resolve this would be greatly appreciated.

BitterAndTwisted

The tenancy agreement is in your name and the alleged share from your "friend" is a private arrangement so the liability for Council Tax rests with you.

You could issue a summons in the small-claims court against your dishonest, defaulting friend and the costs to issue it are not that great. It all depends on how likely you feel you are to get a judgement against them AND get the money back from them. A very slippery customer could insist that there was no agreement that they would pay the Council Tax directly was made and that their rent-payments to you were supposed to cover their share unless you have that in writing

before_hollywood

in future charge them an inclusive rent, one payment a month covers everything for them, that way you know you get your money and everything is paid because you know you have done it, if they dont pay or dont agree they can f off

dogs1234

Thanks for the advice.

Is there any other way of confirming his residence at my address? (sorry - just cant accept that im liable for his debt!)

is the indemnifying option no good either?

Bongedone

Was his name not on the council tax bill? If not then you are also defrauding the council as you would have received a single persons discount.

dogs1234

No idea Bongedone.

As i stated before I assumed my friend was taking care of the council tax.

poppysarah

Sadly you've been had.
Learn from it.

Bongedone

dogs1234 wrote: »

No idea Bongedone.

As i stated before I assumed my friend was taking care of the council tax.

Ah. That would be a problem. I presume he did not even register then.

If I where you I would sign up to the free trial of Credit Expert by Experian and make sure that he has not been up to anything else.

dogs1234

No the only thing i know he did register is to vote. (although i would have thought that is somehow linked to the council).

Will check the credit expert asap!

Fire_Fox

Why wasn't he named on the council tax bills at the time? Were you fraudulently claiming single occupant discount?

adg1

Quite simply, it sounds like you've been 'ad. Some 'friend' you have there!

I assume you are unable to get hold him?

If so, you are saddled with the debt he has run up. As the tenancy was only in your name you are the one ultimately responsible for everything associated with the tenancy of the property - bills, council tax, tv licence etc.

If you actually were registered with the council for council tax then you probably were given the discount for single person occupancy so defrauding them, though unintentially. Though knowing councils they probably wouldn't have simply put you on the lower bracket, you or your friend would have had to apply for it.

Pay a couple of quid for your experian credit report, read it thoroughly and lodge a quesiton mark over anything you think is down to your friend.

Pay the council tax fast and find some new friends.